Bentham Hill House, Southborough
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The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough Bentham Hill House, Southborough March 2009 Bentham Hill House Southborough, Kent TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION SITE DESCRIPTION LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Boundary map. FIGURE 2: Key views map. FIGURE 3: Aerial photograph FIGURE 4: Map of listed buildings at Bentham Hill House. FIGURE 5: Listed buildings at Bentham Hill House. FIGURES ONLY ON CD FIGURE 6: Christopher Saxton, Sussex, Surry and Kent 1575. FIGURE 7: Philip Symonson, Map of Kent 1596. FIGURE 8: Samuel Parker, A Map of the County of Kent 1719. FIGURE 9: Edward Hasted map of Bidborough 1778 FIGURE 10: William Mudge, A New and Accurate Survey of Kent 1801. FIGURE 11: Tithe map 1840. FIGURE 12: Ordnance Survey 1st edn 25” map (1866). Sheet 60/7. FIGURE 13: Ordnance Survey 2nd edn 25” map (1898) Sheet 60/7. FIGURE 14: Ordnance Survey 3rd edn 25” map (1909). Sheet 60/7. FIGURE 15: Ordnance Survey Revd edn 25” map (1936). Sheet 60/7. FIGURE 16: Proposed Alterations Bentham Hill, Speldhurst for W. H. Fleming Esq 1920s in Philip Whitbourn, Decimus Burton 1800-81: architect and gentleman (2003). FIGURE 17: b/w image of Bentham Hill House bedecked with bunting to welcome home Robert Pott from Boer War 1901 from Chris McCooey, Images of England: Southborough and High Brooks (1998). FIGURE 18: 2 b/w images of Bentham Hill House 1909/10 reproduced in A. M. McFarlane, Southborough and High Brooms in Old Picture Postcards (European Library, 1997), figs 61 and 62. FIGURE 19: Arthur Dee, ‘Home-Coming of Capt. R. B. Pott; Public Reception at Southborough’, Tunbridge Wells Advertiser (26 July 1901). FIGURE 20: Photographs of Bentham Hill House January 2009. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With many thanks to the residents of Bentham Hill House for allowing me to visit the gardens and for sharing their archives and memories and commenting on the text. INTRODUCTION This site dossier and description has been prepared as part of the Review of The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Tunbridge Wells Borough 2009, and should be read in conjunction with the full project report which can be found at http://www2.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/. This site is one of many sites that have been researched, visited and written about across the Borough and as a consequence has been included in the revised list of Historic Parks and Gardens covered by the Borough Councils Planning Policies. The list is not conclusive and further gardens may be added over time as research continues or information comes to light The review for Tunbridge Wells Borough was a pilot project to establish a partnership and methodology for the review of the compendium across Kent and provide an example of good practice across the County and the region. The research was largely carried out by volunteers of the Kent Gardens Trust with support and training from the project consultants Virginia Hinze and Dr Barbara Simms. The extent of the area identified represents the remains of the designed landscape and does not necessarily cover all remaining elements or the historical extent of landscape changes and takes no account of current ownership. Further Information is available from the contacts listed below. The partnership would like to thank the volunteers and owners who have participated in this project and given so much of their time, effort and hospitality to complete this challenging and rewarding task. Planning Services Kent County Council Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Heritage Conservation Town Hall Invicta House Royal Tunbridge Wells County Hall Kent Maidstone TN1 1RS ME14 1XX 01892 526121 01622 696918 www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk www.kent.gov.uk Kent Gardens Trust High Weald AONB Unit www.kentgardenstrust.org.uk Woodland Enterprise Centre Hastings Road Flimwell East Sussex TN5 7PR 01580 879500 www.highweald.org/ SITE DESCRIPTION KENT BENTHAM HILL HOUSE TUNBRIDGE WELLS SOUTHBOROUGH TQ 5717 4222 SUMMARY OF THE HISTORIC INTEREST Formal lawns and walks laid out on the south, east and north sides of a house designed by the architect Decimus Burton (1800-81) in 1830-33 and set in extensive parkland with mature trees. CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT The site of the current Bentham Hill House estate was once within the Manor of Southborough (Borough of South), one of four boroughs forming the Manor of Tunbridge that was given to Richard de Fitzgilbert in the C11 in recognition of his part in the Norman Conquest (Hasted). Prior to this, although there is evidence of prehistoric activity around Southborough and use of the land as pasture for pigs, the area was sparsely populated (CAA). By the mid-C14, however, several settlements existed there and taxation records dated 1334 cite the names of Holden, Bentham and Bounds. Until the middle of the 16th century, the valley to the east of Southborough was part of the royal forest of Southfrith, when its timber was cut for fuel for local iron smelting. To the forest’s west, Bentham Brooke, a tributary of the River Medway, is recorded on maps from the C16 (Saxton, Symonson, Parker) and by the mid-C18 its water was used first in the iron smelting industry and then in gunpowder manufacture, possibly based at Barden Furnace (Andrews, Dury and Herbert; Hasted). Further east along the Brooke’s course was C17 Bentham Farm, whose two mills were also used for this purpose (CAA; Mudge). Fields directly south of Bentham Farm were in agricultural use until the early C19 when the vinegar manufacturer, Arthur Pott, later High Sheriff and Deputy- Lieutenant of Kent (London Gazette), bought approximately 30ha of land on which to build a house (Tithe Map). In 1830, he commissioned Decimus Burton, who was already working locally on the development of the Calverley Estate, Tunbridge Wells. The Tithe Map records a house and other buildings (Bentham Hill), pleasure gardens of 16a (6.5ha), a kitchen garden and farm buildings together with extensive woods, arable and pasture lands. In 1862, a stable block and three lodge houses are shown on the 1st edn OS map. After Pott’s death in 1877, his widow Frances remained at Bentham Hill and the estate continued in the family until the 1920s when it was sold to a William Harold Fleming. During Fleming’s ownership the house was extended eastwards and changes were made to the garden on the east front (architect’s plans; 4th edn OS map). Bentham Hill House was used as a convalescent home during World War Two, following which it reverted to single private ownership until 1951. It was then bought by Farringdon Reliance Mutual Insurance Society Ltd for re- development as eight flats and much of the surrounding lands and buildings was sold. Residents of Bentham Hill House bought the freehold from the developer in 1998 and the property remains in communal private ownership. SITE DESCRIPTION LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Bentham Hill is set among the small farmsteads and narrow, winding, hilly, lanes of the High Weald. The land of the site is undulating and well-timbered and descends steeply on the northern boundary providing fine views north-west to Birchett’s and Brookhurst Woods and north-east to the trees of Southborough Common. The 17ha site adjoins residential areas on the western outskirts of Southborough and is approximately 2km north-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 5km south-west of Tonbridge. The A26 (London to Royal Tunbridge Wells road) is 1km due east. The site is bordered to the north and west by the steep roads of Bentham Hill, and, to the south, by Etherington Hill. The houses and gardens of the Holden House development form the eastern boundary. ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES Bentham Hill House estate is entered from the east side of Bentham Hill, some 50m from its junction with Etherington Hill, along a narrow gravelled drive. On the east side of the drive’s entrance is a C19, two-storey Tudor-Gothic lodge (South Lodge) with a tiled roof. The narrow, gravelled drive, lined in sections by post-and-wire fencing, runs northwards for approximately 250m through tree- studded parkland (largely mature oaks and beeches) by post-and-wire fencing. Fifty metres south-west of the house, the drive descends sharply to the north- east, passing between a pair of 1.5m high stone piers with caps to arrive at an oval-shaped gravelled forecourt (c.30m x 25m) on the west, entrance front. This is enclosed on its west side by 0.5m high stone walls and by similar walls and mature shrubs on its south and east sides. On the west side of the drive immediately south of the forecourt entrance is a terrace of six C21 brick garages. The south and east garden fronts open onto lawns reached by flights of stone steps set within them; a further, steeper flight from the main, west front descends to a service area on the north front. The south lawn is framed by two mature cedars and a Wellingtonia and borders the north side of a second drive that leads some 150m eastwards to a stable block screened by mature trees. This drive continues 500m in a north-easterly direction to East Lodge (listed grade II), also an early C19 Tudor-Gothic lodge, standing on Kibbles Lane (MacFarlane). A third lodge, West Lodge (listed grade II) stands on Bentham Hill, c150m north-west of South Lodge. From this lodge a 50m long grassed path runs due east to meet the main drive. These approach drives and lodges were probably added between 1840 and 1860 and the lodges were possibly also designed by Decimus Burton after the main phase of building was complete (Tithe Map; 1st edn OS map).